Elijah and Trent excused themselves and went back to their table. Almost dreading it, Valerie turned to Alex, who, to her surprise, was staring at the television screen with what appeared to be a smirk on his face. He lifted a brow as he took another swig of his beer but said nothing.

“All right, just say it,” she said, lifting one of the roses to her nose to smell it again.

“Say what?” he asked, feigning complete ignorance.

“I know you have something to say, so let’s just get this out of the way now.”

“I have nothing to say.” He laughed, taking her hand in his and kissing it. “Actually . . .” he said, pausing as he glanced back in the area where Elijah and Trent were having dinner.

“I knew it,” she said with a smirk.

“No,” he assured her. “The old Alex would’ve had plenty to say.” She lifted an amused eyebrow as he continued. “Old Alex would’ve instantly hated that douche.”

The cook on the other side of the sushi bar handed them each their first roll. After moving the roses over and placing their plates in front of them, Alex went on. “The old Alex might’ve even wondered if he had anything to worry about. Maybe even reacted to hearing some other dude refer to his girl as babe right in front of his face. But not the new Alex.”

Valerie stared at him, completely impressed. Her hands were still on her lap where she’d left them after placing her napkin there.

“New Alex knows he has nothing to worry about.” He raised his brow again as he had earlier; only this time it wasn’t as playful. “Right?”

“Of course,” she said, reaching out for his hand.

“Well, there you go.” He smiled, though she knew him well enough to know it was a bit forced. “New Alex isn’t about to ruin our night of celebrating over this. But we will talk about that ass**le later.”

Valerie laughed. She had a feeling New Alex was a bit too good to be true. She liked that he was trying to change—handle things more maturely. But she’d take the real Alex, temper-challenged and all, over Fake Alex any day.

He leaned over and kissed her gently. “Seriously,” he said, “I don’t know what it is, but it actually felt pretty good keeping it together and not reacting like I normally do. You know me.”

“Yes, I know you.” She laughed.

He smirked then chuckled. “We wouldn’t be laughing right now. I’ll tell you that much.”

“Well, I’m very proud of you,” she said, biting into a piece of her sushi roll as her insides warmed with excitement. “I’m gonna be honest and admit something to you, okay? I was a little skeptical about this whole change thing. It’s just been like this for so long, but I hadn’t even thought about this part of the change.” She squeezed his hard upper thigh, smiling as he stared at her. “Clearly, you really are making an effort.”

“I promised you I would.” He wiped his mouth, glancing back in Elijah’s direction and looking a little less smug than he had moments ago. “Make an effort that is. But you have to cut me some slack, okay? I may slip every now and again.”

She stopped chewing and stared at him. Like Alex, she was going to make an added effort as well to not jump to conclusions and give him the benefit of the doubt before snapping. So she’d assume by “slip every now and again” he meant he may not always be this patient and calm about things of this nature.

Nothing else.

Squeezing his upper thigh again, she smiled. “I know and I will. I appreciate the effort, baby. I really do.”

They spent the rest of their dinner discussing her new career and his getting to play in the following week’s game—something he was really relieved and excited about. It made her nervous, but she wouldn’t tell him that. She knew firsthand how painful it would be if he hurt his ankle again. She’d been there when he first broke it, and it hadn’t been pretty. Like most ankle injuries, it was extremely painful. The poor guy could barely stand. But Alex had broken his in such a way he’d required permanent screws to hold it back together. She remembered his hitting it against his coffee table once and his face had nearly gone white, it was so painful.

His doctor had warned him already that while she was signing off that he was okay to play again he should consider waiting a bit longer to get back on the field. Another injury this soon could not only end his football career, but it could cause some major irreparable damage. But Alex was adamant. He said he’d never had any illusions of playing pro ball. What he did want to assure was that he didn’t lose his scholarship. Any more time off the field could cost him just that.

When they were finished eating, Alex asked where she wanted to go next. Since this felt like a new beginning for them and this was the first place he’d ever taken her, she knew just the place.

“Let’s take a walk on the beach.”

At first Alex, seemed off put, as if he had something bigger—better—in mind to do tonight. But then it seemed to come to him. “I know just the place,” he said as they got in the truck.

He drove to the lot they’d parked at the first time they’d walked there. He remembered. It was the silliest little thing, but it made Valerie so giddy that he’d remember.

As soon as she was out of the truck, she rushed to him and jumped in his arms, kissing his face all over. Alex laughed, holding her easily with just one arm and brushing the hair away from her face with the other.